Heuristic optimization technique for hydrothermal scheduling considering pumped storage unit

In this paper presence of pumped-storage unit is considered for understanding its effect over the optimal scheduling of multi-reservoir cascaded hydrothermal Plants. In Present scenario pumped storage units are becoming a valuable part of power system plants for energy and water conservation and accomplishing the need of high power demands. To maximize the water as fuel input in hydroelectric system pumped storage units are added with an advantage of operating in generating as well as pumping mode. Hydrothermal scheduling is an important aspect and is performed to minimize the operating cost of thermal power generation but considering a pumped storage unit other practical problems are also resolved. The purpose of this research is to implement a heuristic optimization technique for optimal economic scheduling of hydrothermal units considering a pumped storage unit. In proposed heuristic optimization technique, global best solution obtained from Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique is further improved by applying different mutation strategies. The modified global best solutions are compared and most improved global best solution is chosen as a final solution and used for further iterations. The feasibility and efficiency of heuristic optimization technique be validated through a test system containing four hydro plants, three thermal plants and single pumped storage unit. The results demonstrate that the heuristic optimization technique can get a better solution in comparison with PSO technique.